Scorel, Jan van (yän vän skō`rəl), 1495–1562, Dutch portrait and religious painter, influenced by Gossaert in Utrecht and by Dürer in Nuremberg. About 1521 he visited Palestine and later Rome, where he acted as overseer of the Vatican gallery. On his return to Utrecht, he became a priest and later a canon. Many of his major religious paintings have perished. Well known are his Virgin and Child (Berlin), portraits of pilgrims from the Holy Land (museums in Utrecht and Haarlem), and Magdalen (Rijks Mus.). Scorel was the master of Antonio Moro and of Heemskerk. His style is characterized by a combination of northern interest in realistic observation and effects of light and shadow with the feeling for statuesque dignity imparted by the Italian High Renaissance.

Scorel, Jan van

(born August 1495, Schoorel, Habsburg Netherlands—died Dec. 6, 1562, Utrecht) Dutch humanist, architect, engineer, and painter. He studied briefly with Jan Gossart, who encouraged him to travel. Five years of work and study in Europe eventually took him to Rome. Returning to Holland in 1524, he introduced such Italian Renaissance elements as nudes, Classical draperies and architecture, and spacious imaginary landscapes. His greatest works are his portraits, which show his gift for characterization. He successfully combined the idealism of Renaissance Italy with the naturalism of northern European art in his paintings, and he bequeathed the style to successive generations of Dutch artists.